Emergency-telegraph.



No 850,858. PATENTED APR. 16, 1907,

4 M. 0. TUNISON. l

EMERGENCY TELEGRAPH.

AHLIOATION FILED mum. 1905.

1g 0 I1 3 w 4 5 W i E em T 4 h m .E ergencg Telegraph 1 5 P 4 m 'CALL Aggfi |l fi THE NORRIS PETERS CO., WASHINLWON, D. C

UNITED sTArEs PATENT oFFIoE.

MURRAY O. TUNISON, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I-IALF TO CHARLES W. HARRISON, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

EMERGENCY-TELEGRAPH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 16, 1907.

Application filed July 27, 1905. Serial No. 271,401.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MURRAY O. TUNISON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the'county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Emergency-Telegraph, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new form of telegraph instrument whereby any person is enabled to send a message, whether he understands telegraphy or not, and also whereby the message or messages may be sent from any point on a telegraph-line without the use of the customary station, operator, or instruments.

It is of the objects of this invention to proand conducting portions arranged indetermined form and order, said conducting portions being adapted to form the terminal of a circuit, and a contact-point adapted to form the other terminal of the circuit and to make and break the circuit to transmit the signal when moved thereon.

In the preferred form the invention comprises an insulating character-plate, which may be formed of celluloid, gutta-percha, or other insulating material, indicating dots and dashes used to denote the different codes, characters, and letters used in telegraphic communications, and said plate is mounted over a conductor, which is adapted to be temporarily connected with a telegraph-line. A stylus or movable contact is provided, which when grounded and drawn along the signal-spaces comes in contact with said conductor, thereby when the conductor is connected with a telegraph-line causing the grounding of the electrical current from said line, which in turn makes all telegraph instruments on the line respond to the dots and dashes thus made. I

The instrument is designed to be of espetubes at its sidesone for holding a, contact with a coil of wire around it and connected therewith for making connection with the telegraph-line, the other holding the stylus and grounding-needle and a coil of wire therefor. The stylus and the contact are preferably constructed as spools for holding their respective coils of wire. An outer case is also provided, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

A sounder may be mounted inside the outer case, so that the one instrument is provided with sending and receiving instruments.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the instrument as it appears when ready to be carried in the pocket, parts being broken away to show the contact and stylus. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the instrument in use, parts of a telegraph and railroad line being shown. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line 00 Fig. 1, and shows diagrammatically the connections when the instrument is in use. Fig. 4is a section on line m 90 Fig. 3, showing the sounder. Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmental section on line x 00 Fig. 1, and shows the relation between the guide and character plates. Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the guide and character plates, showing the relation between the same. Fig. 7 is an enlarged broken v ew of the contact with its coil of wire.

1 is a conductor formed as a sheet-metal case turned at the sides and bottom to form grooves 2. At either side are tubes 3 and 4, closed at their bottoms and open at their tops. On the inside of tube 3 is an insulating-tube 5, which in turn surrounds a metallic tube 6. Inside the tube 6 contact 7 is held, making contact with. the tube by the springcontacts 8 at its top. At the bottom of the contact is a collar 9, which forms, with the contacts 8 and the spindle 10, a spool on which conducting-wire 11 is wound. The head 12 of the spool extends over and closes the mouth of tube 3, so that the spool of wire may be withdrawn easily. When packed for the pocket, tube 4 carries another conductor in the form of a conducting-stylus 13, which has on it a spool of wire 14:, the free end of the wire being connected to a conducting-needle 15, also contained in tube 1. On the back of the case is mounted a telegraph-sounder 16, provided with fiat coils 17, armature 18, and adjusting-springs 19 and screw 20. Armature 18 is preferably constructed of aluminium with an iron face 0. attached to it. Coils 17 are connected by wire 21 to tube 6 and by wire 22 tothe case of the instrument. The send ng appliance comprises a stylus and a device comprising a conductor and an insulator provided with interstices through which the stylus can reach the conductor. Such device may comprise a character-plate 24, guide-plate 25, and cover plate 26, which are held against the case in grooves 2. Character-plate 24 has on it characters I) made up of dots and dashes to represent the different characters and letters of the alphabet or code to be used. One other character is made up for a call and is placed above or beside the letter or code characters. Short slots 27 are open. through the character-plate to represent the dots and long slots 28 to represent the dashes. The dots and dashes of each character are arranged in a row, and means are arranged to guide the stylus along the line of slots forming such characters. The characterplate being of insulating material, the stylus can make contact with the plate only when it is projecting through one of the slots. Di-

rectly over the dots and dashes of the char acter-plate are slots 29 in the guide-plate 25, which form the guide for the stylus and are of sufficient length to allow a starting and stopping point for the stylus before and after pass ng over the dots and dashes of the character-plate.

In practical use the stylus following along the slots of the desired character and in the slots of the guide-plate is forced to traverse all of the slots 01' the character-plate in that line. The guide-slots preferably have an en largement. A removable cover-plate 26 is provided as a protection to the guide and character plates when the instrument is not in use.

When the use of the instrument is required, contact 7 is'withdrawn and wire 11 is unwound and thrown over the line-wire 30, as shown in Fig. 2. Stylus 13 is withdrawn and needle 15 is ground as on rail 31. The call is then given by drawing the stylus along the guide-slot of the call character 0. l/Vhen the call has been made the desired number of times to get attention, the message will then be sent by drawing the stylus along the guideslots for the required characters in the appropriate sequence. While the stylus is in contact with the conductor-plate 1, a circuit will 3e formed from battery 32, through the linewire 30, wire 11, contact 7, tube 6, wire 21, coils 17, wire 22, case 1,stylus 13, wire 14, and ground 33 formed by the needle, back to the battery. When the message has been sent and one is to be received, the stylus is grounded on the case and the message may be read oil the sounder.

While I deem it advisable to ordinarily provide the instrument With a sounder, it is to be understood that in some instances the sounder may be omitted and the instrument used simply as a transmitting device.

The character-plate and guide are practicallya unit and may be formed of a single thickness of celluloid, gutta-percha, or other suitable insulating material stamped or pressed to form the guide and signal slots '29 and 27.

To operate, the person using the instrument may draw the stylus or movable con tact in succession across the signals of the character-plate to form the letters, words, and

' phrases he wishes to send.

It will be understood that any person, no matter how ignorant of telegraphy, may send a message. I propose to es ecially use my emergency-telegraph on rai road and telegraph lines. Under my system every trainman may be provided with an instrument to be used in case of emergency, when one of the wires carried in the instrument will be thrown over the telegraph-line and the other connected to the ground.

It will be seen that the construction shown makes a very-compact and convenient form for handling. However, the instrument may be made in various forms without departing from the spirit of my invention.

l/Vhat I claim is 1. A case provided at either side with receptacles for coils of wire, a character-plate adapted to fit between and be retained by said receptacles, a stylus connected with one coil of wire, said coil being removable from its receptacle "for the purpose of grounding,

and a contact carrying a second coil of wire for making connections between said case and telegraph-line.

2. A conductor consisting of a sheet-metal case turned at the sides and bottom to form grooves, tubes at either side of said case, an insulating-tube inside of one of said tubes, a metallic tube inside of said insulating-tube, spring-contacts within said metallic tube, a wire coil connected with said contacts, a character-plate, and a stylus with a wire for grounding and a needle adapted to operatively engage said character-plate.

3. A case, a sounder secured to and inclosed by said case, a character-plate extending across one side or said case, a conductor beneath said character-plate, receptacles for coils of Wire Within said case, and a stylus adapted to operatively engage said character-plate, said stylus and conductor being suitably Wired to form a circuit -'1. A case forming one terminal of a telegraph-line, a telegraph-sounder mounted on. and connected in series with said case, an insulating character-plate, and a stylus forniing the second terminal and adapted to contact with the case through the'characterplate.

5. A case with receptacles for coils of wire i 5 and provided with grooves for the reception. of a character-plate, a character-plate, a stylus carrying andconnected with one coil of Wire, the other end of Which is grounded, and a contact carrying a second. coil of wire connected to said case and .a telegraph-line.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Los Angeles, California, this 19th day of July, 1905.

MURRAY C. TUNISON. In presence 015- JAMEs R. TOWNSEND, JULIA TOWNSEND. 

